Wednesday, 6 November 2013

20 Tips for Improving Communication Skills in English

Have
enough patience: First, a candidate/student/an
individual should bear one thing in his/her mind that improving communication
skills in English is a process and it cannot be accomplished overnight. So, one
should have enough patience to gain good command over English language.

Be
positive and keep on speaking: Another very
important thing to remember is never feel low of yourself if you do not possess
good knowledge in English. The only thing you need to do is keeping on speaking
in English with the people in your immediate circle.

Improve
your listening skills: There is a good saying in English.
i.e. one cannot become a good communicator unless one is a good listener. Try
to pay full attention when you listen to someone who is good at English. You
can quickly learn new words and expressions by hearing them. The more you
listen the more benefits you will have. You should also listen to radio news
and shows being broadcast in English.

Chatting
with friends: As the technology is rapidly
developed, you can effectively utilize many social messengers such as Face book,
Twitter, Google plus etc. for chatting with your friends. You can also chat
with them by using mobile phones and sending SMS and e-mails. In this way, you
can surely improve your English communication skills quickly.

Watch
Television in English: Make it a regular habit of watching a television
shows in English for at least half an hour everyday that will very quickly
teach you new vocabulary, new slang, exact pronunciation and better listening
skills.

Read
English newspapers daily: Reading English daily is one of
the best ways for improving your English language skills. You can buy any
English news paper and try to read it for a few minutes, note down the words
you don’t understand and learn their meanings by referring to a dictionary.
This task will boost your vocabulary and increases your understanding for the
English language. Looking up too many words while you are actually reading can
be discouraging.

Practice
regularly with strong determination: Start speaking
English in your daily life because only practice can help in learning and
communicating effectively.Never be lazy
and enough practice you can do miracles.

Speak
slowly and clearly: Keith Davisdefines
communication as “the transfer of information and understanding from one person
to another person. It is a way of reaching others with facts, ideas, thoughts
and values”. Speaking clearly and slowly is of primary importance. Whatever you
communicate to others they should be able to understand what has been
communicated to them. In the initial stage, if you speak clearly and slowly,
you can overcome a number of mistakes. In course of time, you would surely
enhance your communication skills in English.

Take
it as a challenge: When you start improving your
communication skills in English, you will find more obstacles in the way.
However, if you take it as a challenge and work hard with strong dedication and
commitment, they you will certainly be able to augment your English
communication skills.

Start
a conversation with strangers: You are advised to
start a conversation with strangers who are supposed to be good at English
speaking. Since you are not familiar of them, you will feel less conscious
about what they would feel about you. Do not hesitate and feel ashamed of your
mistakes and at any cost do not give up the habit of speaking in English.

Find
a conversation partner: This tip is considered as any
important one to a candidate who really aspires to improve English
communication skills as quickly as possible. Find a conversation partner who
can spare some time and speak in English with you for about an hour or two
daily.

Practice
speaking in English before a mirror: Practice speaking
aloud before a mirror makes you to know your flaws. Look and observe your facial
expressions, gestures, body movements also very carefully. This exercise would
make you to improve and rectify your mistakes and also boosts up your
confidence level.

Use
Podcasts: Podcasts are available on the internet. These are
nothing but audio and video files and many of these podcasts can be downloaded
instantly for free of cost. With the help of these you can develop an
understanding of different accents of native speakers in English.

Keep
a pocket English dictionary ready: You need to keep a
pocket dictionary always ready in hand so as to refer to difficult words that
you come across. By doing so, you will get familiarized to many words in
English in no time.

Read
a book with lots of dialogue: Instead of reading a
book of descriptive parts, it is advisable to read a book with lots of
dialogues. Dialogues are much easier to understand and they can be used as
readymade sentences in your day-to-day conversations in English with different
people.

Write
down your thoughts: Expressing your ideas in writing is
another useful part of the English language learning process. Writing your
thoughts in English language is not only improving your communication skills,
it will also help improving your creativity and confident levels. Start writing
small and simple sentences and gradually develop the writing skills to complex
sentences with the proper usage of grammar.

Improve
your pronunciation: Pronunciation is also very essential
for effective communication; hence you need to improve your pronunciation of
various words in English. Keep continuously listening mainly to the news
readers of the English news channels and try to pick the way they pronounce the
words. By doing so, you will improve your pronunciation faster.

Take
care of your body language: Your non-verbal communication is
equally as important as the things that you say. Positive body language is
extremely important in your interactions with other people. Become confident in
using your hands when speaking. Maintain eye contact as you speak; sit and
stand in erect position. Always remember that your gestures say a lot about
your personality as an individual.

Story
telling: You can also improve your English communication
skills by telling a story in simple words to your friends and family. If you
continue this practice then you will get fluency in English language.

Do
not translate your thoughts: Translating your thoughts into
English in the initial stage will help you overcome your hesitation, but it is
not advisable for the candidates who have gained some progress in the language.
Translating sentences from your mother tongue into English language will
finally lead to making mistakes in formation of sentences.